Full Title: The Canning, Freezing, Curing and Smoking of Meat, Fish and Game
This is a very dated, but still interesting, book on the basics of old fashioned food preservation techniques. Written as it was back in the early 1970's, barely 15 years after modern refrigerators were starting to become commonplace, and back back when the "depression era" and "world war" generation were still in their vigorous parental prime and still nursing their "victory gardens" while people like me grew up in said households, these sort of techniques were still very commonplace.
A lot of it has long since gone out of style though. From most, to least dated:
CANNING: The next time someone asks what you did over the weekend, go right ahead and say that you fired up the ol autoclave, and canned off your latest batch of green beans, or pork hash. Watch their head spin. Few people do home canning anymore. Interesting reading of a bygone era though.
SMOKING: What little smoking at home these days is mostly brief "hot smoking", rather than slow cold smoking. The former is mostly done to cook stuff, like smoked duck, smoked brisket or ribs, hot smoked salmon, etc. (and plenty of books still abound on such things), whereas the latter is designed to help preserve stuff that's uncooked. You dont find too many people cold smoking their own pork bellies (for bacon) or lox with carefully selected woods these days, and that's a shame. I make lox, but I usually skip the cold smoking and just freeze it. Anyway, some of us still know, appreciate, and support such products. The next time you're in a gourmet market, and spot an unsliced slab of applewood smoked pork belly from a holdout artisanal craftsman, do yourself a favor and grab it, bring it home, lop off a few slices, griddle it, and give it a try. I can almost guarantee it'll be better than that commercially pre-packaged cr*p from the supermarket. If you know anyone who enjoys hot smoking, make friends with them and get yourself invited over for victuals. You won't regret that either ... although your waistline might, if you're not careful.
CURING/PICKLING: Here in America, unless you live on an old fashioned rural family farm, or unless you're from a family with recent roots in 'the old country', or roots in the meat packing, butchering, or deli business, chances are good that you won't see much of this either, courtesy of omnipresent modern refrigeration & freezing, combined with a general erosion of basic culinary skills and a simultaneous migration towards pre-packaged convenience foods. You can still find the odd italian butcher, home gourmand or store proprietor here and there who still make their own dried sausages, jerky, lox, pickled seafood and assorted pickled vegetables ... but it's becomming less and less common by the year, on this side of the atlantic. Some of us know, appreciate, and support such products however.
JARING: Ok, this is not quite as dated, although it HAS mostly devolved from it's heyday of preserving surplus victory garden produce down to just the occasional little old lady or diligent home cook who occasionally takes advantage of seasonal fruits to make homemade jams, jellies and conserves for gifts and year-round use.
FREEZING: Unlike the other categories above, this is more commonplace than ever, and the recent availability of modern gadgets like vaccum sealers, as well as improvements in wraps and platics, have improved upon things even further.
It's an interesting book, and certainly recommended to food historians and food technology geeks ... but other than that it's not especially useful book for most convenience-minded modern home cooks. Time and technology have reduced it to something of a 1950's flavored curiosity, from a mostly bygone era. That, plus many of the recipes are unevenly edited, or awkwardly sized.
Enjoyability = 6
W.F. Eastman - Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking - 6
Moderators: clong, Mr. Titanic
W.F. Eastman - Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking - 6
Last edited by Darb on Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sorry for being a little longwinded in my review. 
In any case, I spent part of this morning making 10 lbs of hot italian fennel sausage (boneless pork loin was on sale for $1.79/lb US, so what the heck). Didn't bother with casings though - I typically shape it into 2 lb logs and freeze it for use in pasta sauces or for grilling on skewers (squeeze onto 1/2" wide metal skewers, grill until browned, then baste with fresh basil-infused oil and serve with rolls or tortillas with roasted peppers ... good stuff)
I'd love to make dry sausage, but I dont have a dedicated temp & humidity controlled meat locker for that. Some day, perhaps.
In any case, I spent part of this morning making 10 lbs of hot italian fennel sausage (boneless pork loin was on sale for $1.79/lb US, so what the heck). Didn't bother with casings though - I typically shape it into 2 lb logs and freeze it for use in pasta sauces or for grilling on skewers (squeeze onto 1/2" wide metal skewers, grill until browned, then baste with fresh basil-infused oil and serve with rolls or tortillas with roasted peppers ... good stuff)
I'd love to make dry sausage, but I dont have a dedicated temp & humidity controlled meat locker for that. Some day, perhaps.
Ah, this brings back memories. My mom always used to can her own vegetables. It was a lot of work, too. I recall spending hours snapping a seemingly endless supply of green beans... /shudder. And there were the tomatoes, corn, and etc... 
We even made pickles on occasion, though we eventually gave up on the whole endevour--it's so much easier just to go to the store...
And I've made sausage, which isn't too hard once you get the technique down, though it can be a bit of a pain. But I sort of enjoyed it. My friend's dad grew-up working in the family butcher shop/grocery store...and we'll all get together every once in a while and make a batch of what they call "potato sausage." Supposedly, the recipe comes from Sweden where my friend's family originated, and is actually pretty good, though it tastes a little weird at first, considering they use allspice as the main seasoning along with garlic, onion, and black pepper (can't recall the rest of the ingredients ATM), though the garlic's their own addition--they say real Swedes never use garlic....But anyway, it was a very interesting learning experience... My eyes were watering from grinding up all the garlic and onions, my arm aching from the hand-grinder.... Putting the casings on was the difficult part... [rambling]
/me thinks it's time to make another batch of sausage...
And I usually jar my own jams and jellies, though I've had little time lately--been too busy with work...
And as for smoking, I've hot-smoked plenty of items: salmon, trout, etc... But I've never gotten around to cold-smoking, though my grandparents used to back in the day...
Anyway, this sounds like an interesting book. I always like trying things the old-fashioned way... And I love the sense of accomplishment gained from totally making a product from beginning to end. That way, if someone tells me it's good, then I feel more inclined to take pride in my work--I HATE using pre-made items, though sometimes there's no feasible way to do otherwise.
Well, I guess enough rambling for the moment.
We even made pickles on occasion, though we eventually gave up on the whole endevour--it's so much easier just to go to the store...
And I've made sausage, which isn't too hard once you get the technique down, though it can be a bit of a pain. But I sort of enjoyed it. My friend's dad grew-up working in the family butcher shop/grocery store...and we'll all get together every once in a while and make a batch of what they call "potato sausage." Supposedly, the recipe comes from Sweden where my friend's family originated, and is actually pretty good, though it tastes a little weird at first, considering they use allspice as the main seasoning along with garlic, onion, and black pepper (can't recall the rest of the ingredients ATM), though the garlic's their own addition--they say real Swedes never use garlic....But anyway, it was a very interesting learning experience... My eyes were watering from grinding up all the garlic and onions, my arm aching from the hand-grinder.... Putting the casings on was the difficult part... [rambling]
/me thinks it's time to make another batch of sausage...
And I usually jar my own jams and jellies, though I've had little time lately--been too busy with work...
And as for smoking, I've hot-smoked plenty of items: salmon, trout, etc... But I've never gotten around to cold-smoking, though my grandparents used to back in the day...
Anyway, this sounds like an interesting book. I always like trying things the old-fashioned way... And I love the sense of accomplishment gained from totally making a product from beginning to end. That way, if someone tells me it's good, then I feel more inclined to take pride in my work--I HATE using pre-made items, though sometimes there's no feasible way to do otherwise.
Well, I guess enough rambling for the moment.
"A writer's chosen task is to write well and professionally. If you can't keep doing it, then you're no longer a professional, but a gifted amateur." L. E. Modessit, jr.